One Illness Away

Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty

Anirudh Krishna

Accessible, comprehensive, and hope-inspiring. Helps the reader gain a new perspective, and learn ways in which they can individually contribute to reducing poverty

Large-scale study of 35,000 households across five countries, and four continents

Highly readable, includes personal interviews and life stories of many individuals' experiences

Looks at the reasons why people fall into poverty, and how the creation of future poverty can be more effectively prevented by presenting a clear agenda for action

Makes an important contribution to the on-going public debates concerning health care and aid to developing countries

One Illness Away

Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty

Anirudh Krishna

Description

Why does poverty persist? A critical, but so far ignored, part of the answer lies in the fact that poverty is regularly created. Large numbers of people are escaping poverty, but large numbers are concurrently falling into chronic poverty.

This book presents the first large-scale examination of the reasons why people fall into poverty and how they escape it in diverse contexts. Drawing upon personal interviews with 35,000 households in different parts of India, Kenya, Uganda, Peru, and the United States, it takes you on an illustrative journey, filled with facts, analyses, and the life stories of people who fell into abject poverty and others who managed to escape their seemingly predetermined fates. Letting a farmhand's son or daughter remain a farmhand, even though he or she is potentially the next Einstein, is a tragedy that poor people witness time after time. Remedying this situation is crucial for making poverty history. This book addresses how equal opportunity can be promoted and how slum-born millionaires can arise in reality. Speaking to Barack Obama's message for more effective health care, One Illness Away feeds directly into current public debates. Learning from thousands of individual experiences, this book presents a clear agenda for action and provides more effective ways of keeping people out of micro poverty traps.

One Illness Away

Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty

Anirudh Krishna

Author Information

Anirudh Krishna holds a Ph.D. in Government (Cornell, 2000) and a Masters in Economics (Delhi, 1980). His research investigates how poor communities and individuals cope with the structural and personal constraints that result in poverty and powerlessness. Krishna is author or co-author of five books and more than 30 peer-reviewed articles. Before turning to academia in 1996, Krishna worked for 14 years in the Indian Administrative Service, where he managed diverse initiatives related to rural and urban development. His most recent research project, reported in this book and conducted over seven years between 2001 and 2008, examines household poverty dynamics in five countries. Krishna received the Dudley Seers Memorial Prize in 2005 for the initial work, which has also influenced future plans of diverse development organizations.

One Illness Away

Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty

Anirudh Krishna

Reviews and Awards

"The outcome of a decade of work in five countries, and the result of conversations and surveys with more than 35,000 families, one of [the book's] chief goals--and accomplishments--is to flesh out our understanding of economic deprivation."--The New York Times

"Many studies of poverty deal with it as a statistical phenomenon, but this book is different. Krishna is a brilliant scholar who has spent considerable time in the field. He is aware that no panaceas or quick fixes exist, but he develops an ingenious approach to helping people out of poverty. This is a must-read for graduate students and policy makers alike."--Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2009 and Co-director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University

"This lucid, readable, and convincing book is a landmark for development thinking and policy. Krishna's Stages of Progress research method reveals new realities about the dynamics of poverty. The findings in One Illness Away have radical implications for policy and practice. They shed new light on the priority and potentials of poverty prevention. The lesson for policy makers, lenders, donors, planners, and other development professionals is powerful: that it can cost less to prevent people falling into poverty than helping them escape. The message is stark and clear: sickness and accidents are the most common and most preventable cause of new poverty. No one who reads One Illness Away can fail to agree with the author on the priority of affordable, accessible and effective health services. After this book, things should never be the same again."--Robert Chambers, Professor and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

"This book shows how poor people come to be poor and remain poor despite working hard. Krishna brings alive the everyday conditions of poor people, the struggles they wage constantly to lift themselves out of poverty, and the frequent yet preventable reversals that they suffer. The book also changes one's perspective on poverty reduction, arguing that while raising people out of poverty is essential, it is not enough. Additional measures are required to prevent the growth of future poverty. This book is a salutary guide to NGOs, governments, donor agencies, and interested publics, showing clearly what needs to be done now and in the future."--Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG, Founder and Chairperson BRAC